This is the third chapter of Book Two: Zu Yang's Daughter. It tells of Hope's experiences after Mel jumps off the cliff. It is told from Hope's perspective.

Chapter Three

I sprinted toward him, but he was faster. Every single time we were training it was I who won the race, yet the one time I truly needed to be fast, I wasn't fast enough. It was vile sarcasm.

"Mel! No!" I yelled, hoping that he would listen.

But that last glimpse from him told me everything – he had made up his mind. And sure enough he jumped. I ran towards the edge of the cliff, looking down, trying to find him; thinking of how to save him.

But it wasn't just that that I was reviewing. Why did he attack that poor man? He had done nothing wrong to us. It wasn't his fault that the Mistress was so cruel; it wasn't his fault that the raid was in four days. Then why did Mel attack him? Was it fear? Did it matter?

A wave came and thrown Mel's body on a rock, and he looked as if unconscious. There was no to waste if I were to save him. So I took a deep breath and jumped off the edge of the rock. As I landed, I shot to big blasts of fire, so that I would not hurt myself. I looked towards the rock on which Mel had been lying, but he wasn't there. I looked around, yet he was nowhere to be seen. It was as if he had just vanished.

"Well done," said a strangely familiar voice. I quickly spun on my heel and got into lightning position. "No, that would kill us all." I could hear the voice, yet the person was nowhere to be seen. Who was he and where was Mel?

"Water conducts electricity, you know," said the voice.

Then someone swiftly landed on the rock in front of him, holding a body – Mel's body. I was ready to fight. It didn't matter how risky it was; I had to! And then the person slowly put their head up, revealing their face. It was no other than Azula herself.

I was frightened. With Mel on my side it was one thing, but me and her talking face to face with no one around was a totally different situation.

"How did you find us? Since when have you been following us?" I asked. I was troubled, yet curious. If assassins could find us, there had to be a reason; and what did it cost Azula to reveal it?

"I found you," she began, "using heatbending. I can feel where anyone steps on the earth... if I concentrate hard enough." Here she gave an innocent smile yet fatally beautiful smile. "And I saw your friend get hurt. I plan to help him." Before I could do anything she had stuck a needle in his skin. How could this day become any more complicated?

"It could be contagious!" I yelled. "Do you know what diseases you can get from that?"

"Relax," she said. I was not sure if she was patronizing me or if she truly was insensitive enough to ask me to relax. "I do not know if it was, but I am sure that it could have been."

She giggled, confirming her insensitivity. I was in mid-conversation with an insane, hundred year old woman.

"I have to say," she went on, breaking the silence, "that it was quite an impressive bolt of lightning you made at the air temple. Not many have gone that far." How did she know about that? I had made sure that no one saw me! There was something very creepy going on; I knew it.

"How do you know about that?" I questioned her.

She laughed again. I was not amused. "I followed you miles and miles away, even overseas, and you are asking me how I followed you a couple of hundred yards?" Yeah, right. Like she actually followed Mel and I this far.

"Okay, then. How'd you follow me, or us, so far?" I questioned her once again, wondering how she would reply this time.

"Well my dear, that is self-explanatory?"

"So with heatbending?" I asked, feeling as if being laughed at.

"That was," she chuckled, "following your very step. Where you were headed, I knew. You see, I know what my granddaughter is capable of, so one glimpse of your eyes was enough for me to witness your entire history"

Okay, I think Azula was just insane. What was she even talking about?

"Come again," I said.

"The Fire Mistress," she smiled, "is my granddaughter."

My jaw fell, my eyes popped and my neck titled. Has I just heard her correctly?

"What?" I yelled.

"Shh," said Azula, much to my annoyance. "Don't ruin his rest. His leg is broken. I'll transport you to the Southern Water Tribe with lightning, and I'll let you go. And yes, she is my granddaughter. She has her grandmother's strive and power, both partially, of course. Otherwise, the world would have been long gone." She giggled, but I was, once again, far from being amused.

"So you," I was angry, indeed, "are telling me that I am to trust the person that gave birth to the person that gave birth to the person that killed my father and brother, dishonored my family, killed my uncle's family, ruined my life?"

"Quite too complicated to follow, sweetheart," she said, "but if I understood correctly, yes, I am, in a way, responsible. Only that it is quite different in real life. Of course there is a difference between being responsible and holding yourself accountable. And I honestly do not feel any guilt. She was born with an opportunity. It's his," she looked at Mel, "duty to stop her. Let her have fun."

"She killed ruined my life!" I was yelling and I didn't care. "And you are telling me to relax? You are a... monster!" She started laughing. I shot a fireball at her, but it just dissolved in mi-air.

"Dear, dear," she said, still laughing. I was about to have a nervous breakdown. "It seems like you can't control your emotions very well." She went on laughing as if it was the last opportune moment she was to ever get. And that was just enough for me – I ran and jumped at her, but just before I had started attacking, she hit me with her fingers on my forehead. I fell down, paralyzed.

"Didn't you ever find it curious that you survived the lightning bolt you shot in the air temple?" she went on, now calming down. "Your lightning killed everyone else, but you and my granddaughter survived. Haven't you thought it a bit peculiar?"

She was bringing up an interesting point, something I had never thought about.

"I was on a high ground, in the ventilation shafts," I said.

She laughed and laughed.

"You have been to a Fire Nation school. You cannot fool me; we both know that you know that metal is a conductor of electricity. You ought to have been a burned potato after the lightning you released.

"Okay then," I said impatiently, "what happened?"

"Didn't you feel the shoes were different than the ones you had prepared?"

I concentrated, trying to remember that night. And she was right – the shoes had been different – heavier, made out of metal!

"You switched my shoes," I said quietly; I was speechless.

"I saved your life," she answered.

if I had been upset moments ago, now I was just going nuts. Why Azula? Could it have been someone else? And why had she kept me alive? Then the most interesting question struck me:

"Normal shoes can't," she said. "But it was I that invented the ones you wore. The metal is placed in uch a formation that it has a negative charge – they oppose any other negative charge, thus electricity. Any amount of pain you have felt had been nothing compared that what absorbing lightning truly feels like."

I was speechless once more, but this time out of amazement. And then I came to another terrible realization:

"The Fire Mistress has shoes like these too!"

"Not just shoes," for the first time Azula seemed to be a neutral mood. It was just an awkward experience. "A whole body armor from toe to head. Even her mask is made in such a pattern." That explained why she made lightning all the time – it could not hurt her! And it also meant that shooting lightning at her would not be enough to kill her. In fact lightning wasn't an option of killing her!

"Now it's time for you to go," said she.

She hit me on a few spots and I felt my arms once more. But as I was standing up, I noticed a small detail – Azula was whispering something in Mel' ear. Even though he was uncurious, I did not feel comfortable seeing Azula so close to his face. In fact, I felt a little jealous. It was to my great dislike that Azula had returned, especially after what she had told me.

"Get ready," she said. "To travel with lightning is smooth, but to land with a broken leg is tough. So keep him standing, and do not let go." She nodded at Mel, and then looked back at me. "Are you ready?" Much to my dislike, I nodded. After all it was Mel's duty to save the Southern Water Tribe, and not even flying could get us there that fast. It Azula no more than a second to get situated. The bolt flew through the air and then it hit us. My eyes popped out. My body was filled with energy, but there was no pain. It felt oddly magnificent. The next second the lightning struck again and we fell on an icy wall.

"Ouch!" Mel had fallen on his leg, and had woken up from the pain. I looked up, trying to make sure that everything was fine, but saw something more than I had expected. The Southern Water Tribe was a sight to behold.